150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 11 - 17 DECEMBER 1873
This week's many stories include the poker bashing in Bold Street, why Rainhill village was en fete, the cow that took on a St Helens train and lost, the minstrel show at the Volunteer Hall and the new Catholic temperance society that allowed those who signed the pledge to drink beer.
We begin with Father Nugent's Boys of the Refuge and Night Asylum of St Anne Street in Liverpool. This week their band returned to St Helens to perform a concert at the Volunteer Hall in front of a crowded house. Father James Nugent – the pioneering child welfare reformer of which the Nugent Care charity is named after – was not accompanying his boys, as he was at the bedside of a dying priest.
On the 11th there were great festivities in Rainhill as Mary Stapleton-Bretherton returned to the village after a European trip. That had included a visit to the Pope who had made her Marchioness of the Holy Roman Empire. At one point in Milan, Mrs Stapleton-Bretherton had become very ill but she recovered. The philanthropic, land-owning Bretherton family of Rainhill Hall had been responsible for the building of St Bartholomew's Church in 1842 (pictured below) and other good deeds.
The St Helens Newspaper described Rainhill as having been "en fete" with Mrs Stapleton-Bretherton receiving a "hearty reception" from villagers and her tenants as they welcomed her back home. The village had been: "…gay with bunting, the bells of St. Bartholomew's rang a merry peal, and the tenantry met their landlady on horseback…. In the evening, a series of festivities were held in honour of the event."
This week's notable court cases included that of poker-wielding James Brady who was charged with breaching the peace in Bold Street in Greenbank, St Helens. That was despite the fact that the police officer that brought the case said Brady had used the poker to bash the heads of several men. And, of course, pokers could do serious damage to people's bonces but the district of Greenbank was not renowned for being very receptive to police officers.
And so, likely as not, those with sore heads were unwilling to cooperate with the boys in blue in sustaining a more serious charge of assault against Brady. Not that the man denied using the poker as a weapon or, as he put it, to "touch up" a few people. But Brady claimed that a small group had attacked him, with one of them carrying the poker and in the scuffle he had taken hold of it. The Bench felt someone who "felled people in the streets" should be treated more harshly than the run-of-the-mill cases of breach of the peace and imposed a fine of 20 shillings.
Before 1870 any money or assets that a married woman made or inherited had legally belonged to her husband. That year the Married Women's Property Act allowed wives to own any personal income that they received and property that they had inherited. This week Ann Dickson applied in the St Helens Petty Sessions for an order to protect her earnings from her husband.
She was a widow and had inherited from her first husband a life interest in a small property. When Ann remarried her second husband would have taken over ownership of that income – but he had since died. In 1871 Ann married for the third time but after two years of living with John Dickson in Haydock, he had left the marital home – or deserted his wife, as separation tended to be called. Somewhat cheekily John Dickson had placed a notice in the Newspaper warning tradesmen that he would not be responsible for any debts accrued by his wife.
At the court hearing the Chairman asked if the husband had any rights to the property from which his wife derived an income. Although the Act gave clear rights of income to married women, there were loopholes. But Mrs Dickson's solicitor produced the will of the first husband, which was clear as to its intent and so the order protecting the woman's income under the new Act was signed.
Minstrel shows were regularly performed in St Helens. These were either black entertainers or white men who wore black face via burnt cork make-up. For two nights from the 12th there was a performance at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens by the "world-renowned" Court Minstrels, who were described as presenting "…their original and finest entertainment of negro minstrelsy and comicalities".
The comicalities would, no doubt, have been grotesque parodies of the black man with exaggerated mannerisms. There were thirteen performers in total with prices of admission ranging from 6d to 2 shillings.
Railway accidents were a virtual weekly occurrence – although the St Helens Newspaper on the 13th described how the one that had occurred earlier in the week had been unusual:
"On Monday afternoon, as the 5 10 train from Rainford to St. Helens was proceeding on its journey, shortly after leaving the Crank station, a heifer which had strayed upon the line, startled by the approaching engine, commenced a race with her snorting and puffing antagonist, but the race was of short duration, and the result proved, as George Stephenson intimated when questioned on a similar state of things, “very awkward for the poor cow.”
"As in this case the cow was knocked down and the engine and train passed over her. A third class carriage and van were thrown off the line. The train was brought to a stand, and the passengers transferred to the portion nearest the engine, which kept [to] the rails, and were sent on to St. Helens after a short delay. Measures were taken to block the line, which has only a single pair of rails, and a spare engine, with men and tackle, was promptly despatched from St. Helens to clear the line."
It was only a fortnight from Christmas but the Newspaper was not exactly overflowing with gift adverts. There were only two, in fact, with Dromgooles of Hardshaw Street offering: "A present for children. – Favourite Nursery Rhymes, 192 pages, with 100 illustrations. Price 1s. Nothing equals this book in size or style of construction."
Peter McKinley of Bridge Street and Market Street said he had a "choice stock of toys and fancy goods suitable for Christmas trees, presents, New Year's gifts, &c." He was offering back combs, brushes, stars, bows, purses, brooches, bracelets, pendants, earrings, wools and worsteds.
Miss Pickton had established her confectionery shop at 50 Liverpool Road in St Helens in the early summer and had made it clear from the outset that she was targeting a high-class clientele. In this week's paper she published this advert which bore the headline "Important Winter Announcement":
"Miss Pickton confectioner, and caterer in refreshments of the highest order and variety – balls, public tea parties, and private parties, served in the first style. Miss Pickton presents her compliments to the ladies [of] St. Helens, and in view of the coming season, respectfully invites their attention to her establishment above. In thanking her numerous friends for their kind patronage in the past, she has much pleasure in informing them that she has lately made most satisfactory changes in her staff, and looks forward in consequence to their increased and universal gratification."
Miss Pickton was also linked to another advert in the paper – a dentist that treated you in your own home. "Mr. Robert Pendlebury, surgeon dentist, having acquired a large experience in his profession, both in England and abroad, respectfully announces to the residents of St. Helens and the neighbourhood that he proposes extending his practice to this town, and will have much pleasure in calling upon ladies, and gentlemen at their residences, on the shortest notice. Miss Pickton confectioner 50 Liverpool Road, St. Helens has kindly consented to receive all orders, and give the fullest particulars."
The Newspaper also described how a new temperance organisation had been formed in St Helens. It was called the Catholic Association for the Suppression of Drunkenness and its first meeting had taken place at Lowe House church. Unusually, the association accepted two forms of pledge. As well as total abstinence, members could agree not to drink more than two pints of beer a day, as long as they were not consumed in a public house.
After the principles of the association were outlined at a church service at Lowe House last weekend, a total of 104 people had afterwards taken the pledge – 40 for total absence and 64 for partial. A few days later at a meeting for women in Greenbank, eighty more conversions to the cause were made, with the latest total standing at 200.
And finally on the 15th, a lecture on "Ireland, Her Past Struggles and Present Hopes" was given in the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Christmas panto at the Theatre Royal, a suspected murder at Haydock, the banquet at the Fleece Hotel, the abused Newton apprentice and the scarlet fever outbreak at Whiston Workhouse.
We begin with Father Nugent's Boys of the Refuge and Night Asylum of St Anne Street in Liverpool. This week their band returned to St Helens to perform a concert at the Volunteer Hall in front of a crowded house. Father James Nugent – the pioneering child welfare reformer of which the Nugent Care charity is named after – was not accompanying his boys, as he was at the bedside of a dying priest.
On the 11th there were great festivities in Rainhill as Mary Stapleton-Bretherton returned to the village after a European trip. That had included a visit to the Pope who had made her Marchioness of the Holy Roman Empire. At one point in Milan, Mrs Stapleton-Bretherton had become very ill but she recovered. The philanthropic, land-owning Bretherton family of Rainhill Hall had been responsible for the building of St Bartholomew's Church in 1842 (pictured below) and other good deeds.
This week's notable court cases included that of poker-wielding James Brady who was charged with breaching the peace in Bold Street in Greenbank, St Helens. That was despite the fact that the police officer that brought the case said Brady had used the poker to bash the heads of several men. And, of course, pokers could do serious damage to people's bonces but the district of Greenbank was not renowned for being very receptive to police officers.
And so, likely as not, those with sore heads were unwilling to cooperate with the boys in blue in sustaining a more serious charge of assault against Brady. Not that the man denied using the poker as a weapon or, as he put it, to "touch up" a few people. But Brady claimed that a small group had attacked him, with one of them carrying the poker and in the scuffle he had taken hold of it. The Bench felt someone who "felled people in the streets" should be treated more harshly than the run-of-the-mill cases of breach of the peace and imposed a fine of 20 shillings.
Before 1870 any money or assets that a married woman made or inherited had legally belonged to her husband. That year the Married Women's Property Act allowed wives to own any personal income that they received and property that they had inherited. This week Ann Dickson applied in the St Helens Petty Sessions for an order to protect her earnings from her husband.
She was a widow and had inherited from her first husband a life interest in a small property. When Ann remarried her second husband would have taken over ownership of that income – but he had since died. In 1871 Ann married for the third time but after two years of living with John Dickson in Haydock, he had left the marital home – or deserted his wife, as separation tended to be called. Somewhat cheekily John Dickson had placed a notice in the Newspaper warning tradesmen that he would not be responsible for any debts accrued by his wife.
At the court hearing the Chairman asked if the husband had any rights to the property from which his wife derived an income. Although the Act gave clear rights of income to married women, there were loopholes. But Mrs Dickson's solicitor produced the will of the first husband, which was clear as to its intent and so the order protecting the woman's income under the new Act was signed.
Minstrel shows were regularly performed in St Helens. These were either black entertainers or white men who wore black face via burnt cork make-up. For two nights from the 12th there was a performance at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens by the "world-renowned" Court Minstrels, who were described as presenting "…their original and finest entertainment of negro minstrelsy and comicalities".
The comicalities would, no doubt, have been grotesque parodies of the black man with exaggerated mannerisms. There were thirteen performers in total with prices of admission ranging from 6d to 2 shillings.
Railway accidents were a virtual weekly occurrence – although the St Helens Newspaper on the 13th described how the one that had occurred earlier in the week had been unusual:
"On Monday afternoon, as the 5 10 train from Rainford to St. Helens was proceeding on its journey, shortly after leaving the Crank station, a heifer which had strayed upon the line, startled by the approaching engine, commenced a race with her snorting and puffing antagonist, but the race was of short duration, and the result proved, as George Stephenson intimated when questioned on a similar state of things, “very awkward for the poor cow.”
"As in this case the cow was knocked down and the engine and train passed over her. A third class carriage and van were thrown off the line. The train was brought to a stand, and the passengers transferred to the portion nearest the engine, which kept [to] the rails, and were sent on to St. Helens after a short delay. Measures were taken to block the line, which has only a single pair of rails, and a spare engine, with men and tackle, was promptly despatched from St. Helens to clear the line."
It was only a fortnight from Christmas but the Newspaper was not exactly overflowing with gift adverts. There were only two, in fact, with Dromgooles of Hardshaw Street offering: "A present for children. – Favourite Nursery Rhymes, 192 pages, with 100 illustrations. Price 1s. Nothing equals this book in size or style of construction."
Peter McKinley of Bridge Street and Market Street said he had a "choice stock of toys and fancy goods suitable for Christmas trees, presents, New Year's gifts, &c." He was offering back combs, brushes, stars, bows, purses, brooches, bracelets, pendants, earrings, wools and worsteds.
Miss Pickton had established her confectionery shop at 50 Liverpool Road in St Helens in the early summer and had made it clear from the outset that she was targeting a high-class clientele. In this week's paper she published this advert which bore the headline "Important Winter Announcement":
"Miss Pickton confectioner, and caterer in refreshments of the highest order and variety – balls, public tea parties, and private parties, served in the first style. Miss Pickton presents her compliments to the ladies [of] St. Helens, and in view of the coming season, respectfully invites their attention to her establishment above. In thanking her numerous friends for their kind patronage in the past, she has much pleasure in informing them that she has lately made most satisfactory changes in her staff, and looks forward in consequence to their increased and universal gratification."
Miss Pickton was also linked to another advert in the paper – a dentist that treated you in your own home. "Mr. Robert Pendlebury, surgeon dentist, having acquired a large experience in his profession, both in England and abroad, respectfully announces to the residents of St. Helens and the neighbourhood that he proposes extending his practice to this town, and will have much pleasure in calling upon ladies, and gentlemen at their residences, on the shortest notice. Miss Pickton confectioner 50 Liverpool Road, St. Helens has kindly consented to receive all orders, and give the fullest particulars."
The Newspaper also described how a new temperance organisation had been formed in St Helens. It was called the Catholic Association for the Suppression of Drunkenness and its first meeting had taken place at Lowe House church. Unusually, the association accepted two forms of pledge. As well as total abstinence, members could agree not to drink more than two pints of beer a day, as long as they were not consumed in a public house.
After the principles of the association were outlined at a church service at Lowe House last weekend, a total of 104 people had afterwards taken the pledge – 40 for total absence and 64 for partial. A few days later at a meeting for women in Greenbank, eighty more conversions to the cause were made, with the latest total standing at 200.
And finally on the 15th, a lecture on "Ireland, Her Past Struggles and Present Hopes" was given in the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Christmas panto at the Theatre Royal, a suspected murder at Haydock, the banquet at the Fleece Hotel, the abused Newton apprentice and the scarlet fever outbreak at Whiston Workhouse.
This week's many stories include the poker bashing in Bold Street, why Rainhill village was en fete, the cow that took on a St Helens train and lost, the minstrel show at the Volunteer Hall and the new Catholic temperance society that allowed those who signed the pledge to drink beer.
We begin with Father Nugent's Boys of the Refuge and Night Asylum of St Anne Street in Liverpool.
This week their band returned to St Helens to perform a concert at the Volunteer Hall in front of a crowded house.
Father James Nugent – the pioneering child welfare reformer of which the Nugent Care charity is named after – was not accompanying his boys, as he was at the bedside of a dying priest.
On the 11th there were great festivities in Rainhill as Mary Stapleton-Bretherton returned to the village after a European trip.
That had included a visit to the Pope who had made her Marchioness of the Holy Roman Empire. At one point in Milan, Mrs Stapleton-Bretherton had become very ill but she recovered.
The philanthropic, land-owning Bretherton family of Rainhill Hall had been responsible for the building of St Bartholomew's Church in 1842 (pictured above) and other good deeds.
The St Helens Newspaper described Rainhill as having been "en fete" with Mrs Stapleton-Bretherton receiving a "hearty reception" from villagers and her tenants as they welcomed her back home.
The village had been: "…gay with bunting, the bells of St. Bartholomew's rang a merry peal, and the tenantry met their landlady on horseback…. In the evening, a series of festivities were held in honour of the event."
This week's notable court cases included that of poker-wielding James Brady who was charged with breaching the peace in Bold Street in Greenbank, St Helens.
That was despite the fact that the police officer that brought the case said Brady had used the poker to bash the heads of several men.
And, of course, pokers could do serious damage to people's bonces but the district of Greenbank was not renowned for being very receptive to police officers.
And so, likely as not, those with sore heads were unwilling to cooperate with the boys in blue in sustaining a more serious charge of assault against Brady.
Not that the man denied using the poker as a weapon or, as he put it, to "touch up" a few people.
But Brady claimed that a small group had attacked him, with one of them carrying the poker and in the scuffle he had taken hold of it.
The Bench felt someone who "felled people in the streets" should be treated more harshly than the run-of-the-mill cases of breach of the peace and imposed a fine of 20 shillings.
Before 1870 any money or assets that a married woman made or inherited had legally belonged to her husband.
That year the Married Women's Property Act allowed wives to own any personal income that they received and property that they had inherited.
This week Ann Dickson applied in the St Helens Petty Sessions for an order to protect her earnings from her husband.
She was a widow and had inherited from her first husband a life interest in a small property.
When Ann remarried her second husband would have taken over ownership of that income – but he had since died.
In 1871 Ann married for the third time but after two years of living with John Dickson in Haydock, he had left the marital home – or deserted his wife, as separation tended to be called.
Somewhat cheekily John Dickson had placed a notice in the Newspaper warning tradesmen that he would not be responsible for any debts accrued by his wife.
At the court hearing the Chairman asked if the husband had any rights to the property from which his wife derived an income.
Although the Act gave clear rights of income to married women, there were loopholes.
But Mrs Dickson's solicitor produced the will of the first husband, which was clear as to its intent and so the order protecting the woman's income under the new Act was signed.
Minstrel shows were regularly performed in St Helens. These were either black entertainers or white men who wore black face via burnt cork make-up.
For two nights from the 12th there was a performance at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens by the "world-renowned" Court Minstrels, who were described as presenting "…their original and finest entertainment of negro minstrelsy and comicalities".
The comicalities would, no doubt, have been grotesque parodies of the black man with exaggerated mannerisms.
There were thirteen performers in total with prices of admission ranging from 6d to 2 shillings.
Railway accidents were a virtual weekly occurrence – although the St Helens Newspaper on the 13th described how the one that had occurred earlier in the week had been unusual:
"On Monday afternoon, as the 5 10 train from Rainford to St. Helens was proceeding on its journey, shortly after leaving the Crank station, a heifer which had strayed upon the line, startled by the approaching engine, commenced a race with her snorting and puffing antagonist, but the race was of short duration, and the result proved, as George Stephenson intimated when questioned on a similar state of things, “very awkward for the poor cow.”
"As in this case the cow was knocked down and the engine and train passed over her. A third class carriage and van were thrown off the line.
"The train was brought to a stand, and the passengers transferred to the portion nearest the engine, which kept [to] the rails, and were sent on to St. Helens after a short delay.
"Measures were taken to block the line, which has only a single pair of rails, and a spare engine, with men and tackle, was promptly despatched from St. Helens to clear the line."
It was only a fortnight from Christmas but the Newspaper was not exactly overflowing with gift adverts.
There were only two, in fact, with Dromgooles of Hardshaw Street offering: "A present for children. – Favourite Nursery Rhymes, 192 pages, with 100 illustrations. Price 1s. Nothing equals this book in size or style of construction."
Peter McKinley of Bridge Street and Market Street said he had a "choice stock of toys and fancy goods suitable for Christmas trees, presents, New Year's gifts, &c."
He was offering back combs, brushes, stars, bows, purses, brooches, bracelets, pendants, earrings, wools and worsteds.
Miss Pickton had established her confectionery shop at 50 Liverpool Road in St Helens in the early summer and had made it clear from the outset that she was targeting a high-class clientele.
In this week's paper she published this advert which bore the headline "Important Winter Announcement":
"Miss Pickton confectioner, and caterer in refreshments of the highest order and variety – balls, public tea parties, and private parties, served in the first style.
"Miss Pickton presents her compliments to the ladies [of] St. Helens, and in view of the coming season, respectfully invites their attention to her establishment above.
"In thanking her numerous friends for their kind patronage in the past, she has much pleasure in informing them that she has lately made most satisfactory changes in her staff, and looks forward in consequence to their increased and universal gratification."
Miss Pickton was also linked to another advert in the paper – a dentist that treated you in your own home.
"Mr. Robert Pendlebury, surgeon dentist, having acquired a large experience in his profession, both in England and abroad, respectfully announces to the residents of St. Helens and the neighbourhood that he proposes extending his practice to this town, and will have much pleasure in calling upon ladies, and gentlemen at their residences, on the shortest notice.
"Miss Pickton confectioner 50 Liverpool Road, St. Helens has kindly consented to receive all orders, and give the fullest particulars."
The Newspaper also described how a new temperance organisation had been formed in St Helens.
It was called the Catholic Association for the Suppression of Drunkenness and its first meeting had taken place at Lowe House church. Unusually, the association accepted two forms of pledge.
As well as total abstinence, members could agree not to drink more than two pints of beer a day, as long as they were not consumed in a public house.
After the principles of the association were outlined at a church service at Lowe House last weekend, a total of 104 people had afterwards taken the pledge – 40 for total absence and 64 for partial.
A few days later at a meeting for women in Greenbank, eighty more conversions to the cause were made, with the latest total standing at 200.
And finally on the 15th, a lecture on "Ireland, Her Past Struggles and Present Hopes" was given in the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Christmas panto at the Theatre Royal, a suspected murder at Haydock, the banquet at the Fleece Hotel, the abused Newton apprentice and the scarlet fever outbreak at Whiston Workhouse.
We begin with Father Nugent's Boys of the Refuge and Night Asylum of St Anne Street in Liverpool.
This week their band returned to St Helens to perform a concert at the Volunteer Hall in front of a crowded house.
Father James Nugent – the pioneering child welfare reformer of which the Nugent Care charity is named after – was not accompanying his boys, as he was at the bedside of a dying priest.
On the 11th there were great festivities in Rainhill as Mary Stapleton-Bretherton returned to the village after a European trip.
That had included a visit to the Pope who had made her Marchioness of the Holy Roman Empire. At one point in Milan, Mrs Stapleton-Bretherton had become very ill but she recovered.
The St Helens Newspaper described Rainhill as having been "en fete" with Mrs Stapleton-Bretherton receiving a "hearty reception" from villagers and her tenants as they welcomed her back home.
The village had been: "…gay with bunting, the bells of St. Bartholomew's rang a merry peal, and the tenantry met their landlady on horseback…. In the evening, a series of festivities were held in honour of the event."
This week's notable court cases included that of poker-wielding James Brady who was charged with breaching the peace in Bold Street in Greenbank, St Helens.
That was despite the fact that the police officer that brought the case said Brady had used the poker to bash the heads of several men.
And, of course, pokers could do serious damage to people's bonces but the district of Greenbank was not renowned for being very receptive to police officers.
And so, likely as not, those with sore heads were unwilling to cooperate with the boys in blue in sustaining a more serious charge of assault against Brady.
Not that the man denied using the poker as a weapon or, as he put it, to "touch up" a few people.
But Brady claimed that a small group had attacked him, with one of them carrying the poker and in the scuffle he had taken hold of it.
The Bench felt someone who "felled people in the streets" should be treated more harshly than the run-of-the-mill cases of breach of the peace and imposed a fine of 20 shillings.
Before 1870 any money or assets that a married woman made or inherited had legally belonged to her husband.
That year the Married Women's Property Act allowed wives to own any personal income that they received and property that they had inherited.
This week Ann Dickson applied in the St Helens Petty Sessions for an order to protect her earnings from her husband.
She was a widow and had inherited from her first husband a life interest in a small property.
When Ann remarried her second husband would have taken over ownership of that income – but he had since died.
In 1871 Ann married for the third time but after two years of living with John Dickson in Haydock, he had left the marital home – or deserted his wife, as separation tended to be called.
Somewhat cheekily John Dickson had placed a notice in the Newspaper warning tradesmen that he would not be responsible for any debts accrued by his wife.
At the court hearing the Chairman asked if the husband had any rights to the property from which his wife derived an income.
Although the Act gave clear rights of income to married women, there were loopholes.
But Mrs Dickson's solicitor produced the will of the first husband, which was clear as to its intent and so the order protecting the woman's income under the new Act was signed.
Minstrel shows were regularly performed in St Helens. These were either black entertainers or white men who wore black face via burnt cork make-up.
For two nights from the 12th there was a performance at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens by the "world-renowned" Court Minstrels, who were described as presenting "…their original and finest entertainment of negro minstrelsy and comicalities".
The comicalities would, no doubt, have been grotesque parodies of the black man with exaggerated mannerisms.
There were thirteen performers in total with prices of admission ranging from 6d to 2 shillings.
Railway accidents were a virtual weekly occurrence – although the St Helens Newspaper on the 13th described how the one that had occurred earlier in the week had been unusual:
"On Monday afternoon, as the 5 10 train from Rainford to St. Helens was proceeding on its journey, shortly after leaving the Crank station, a heifer which had strayed upon the line, startled by the approaching engine, commenced a race with her snorting and puffing antagonist, but the race was of short duration, and the result proved, as George Stephenson intimated when questioned on a similar state of things, “very awkward for the poor cow.”
"As in this case the cow was knocked down and the engine and train passed over her. A third class carriage and van were thrown off the line.
"The train was brought to a stand, and the passengers transferred to the portion nearest the engine, which kept [to] the rails, and were sent on to St. Helens after a short delay.
"Measures were taken to block the line, which has only a single pair of rails, and a spare engine, with men and tackle, was promptly despatched from St. Helens to clear the line."
It was only a fortnight from Christmas but the Newspaper was not exactly overflowing with gift adverts.
There were only two, in fact, with Dromgooles of Hardshaw Street offering: "A present for children. – Favourite Nursery Rhymes, 192 pages, with 100 illustrations. Price 1s. Nothing equals this book in size or style of construction."
Peter McKinley of Bridge Street and Market Street said he had a "choice stock of toys and fancy goods suitable for Christmas trees, presents, New Year's gifts, &c."
He was offering back combs, brushes, stars, bows, purses, brooches, bracelets, pendants, earrings, wools and worsteds.
Miss Pickton had established her confectionery shop at 50 Liverpool Road in St Helens in the early summer and had made it clear from the outset that she was targeting a high-class clientele.
In this week's paper she published this advert which bore the headline "Important Winter Announcement":
"Miss Pickton confectioner, and caterer in refreshments of the highest order and variety – balls, public tea parties, and private parties, served in the first style.
"Miss Pickton presents her compliments to the ladies [of] St. Helens, and in view of the coming season, respectfully invites their attention to her establishment above.
"In thanking her numerous friends for their kind patronage in the past, she has much pleasure in informing them that she has lately made most satisfactory changes in her staff, and looks forward in consequence to their increased and universal gratification."
Miss Pickton was also linked to another advert in the paper – a dentist that treated you in your own home.
"Mr. Robert Pendlebury, surgeon dentist, having acquired a large experience in his profession, both in England and abroad, respectfully announces to the residents of St. Helens and the neighbourhood that he proposes extending his practice to this town, and will have much pleasure in calling upon ladies, and gentlemen at their residences, on the shortest notice.
"Miss Pickton confectioner 50 Liverpool Road, St. Helens has kindly consented to receive all orders, and give the fullest particulars."
The Newspaper also described how a new temperance organisation had been formed in St Helens.
It was called the Catholic Association for the Suppression of Drunkenness and its first meeting had taken place at Lowe House church. Unusually, the association accepted two forms of pledge.
As well as total abstinence, members could agree not to drink more than two pints of beer a day, as long as they were not consumed in a public house.
After the principles of the association were outlined at a church service at Lowe House last weekend, a total of 104 people had afterwards taken the pledge – 40 for total absence and 64 for partial.
A few days later at a meeting for women in Greenbank, eighty more conversions to the cause were made, with the latest total standing at 200.
And finally on the 15th, a lecture on "Ireland, Her Past Struggles and Present Hopes" was given in the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Christmas panto at the Theatre Royal, a suspected murder at Haydock, the banquet at the Fleece Hotel, the abused Newton apprentice and the scarlet fever outbreak at Whiston Workhouse.